Container for foodstuff



March 3, 1953 H. c. SALLAC 2,630,154

CONTAINER FOR FOODSTUFF Filed Feb. 9, 1951 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 17 1- 14 .3. 19 5 I jg! 21 17 1a 18 16 19 I 4- \\M\ 2 a 4 13 IN VEN TOR. fiz fi C5144 4 14C Patented Mar. 3, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to containers, and more partic'larly to a flexible container for foodstuff to replace metal, glass, paper and similar containers for storage, transportation and freezing of foodstuifs.

It is among the objects of the invent on to provide an improved conta ner for foodstuffs, s"ch as cheese, sausage. butter, et cetera, which is flexible so that quantities less than the entire content can be removed at different times and the container rescaled to preserve the remainder and correspondingly reduced in size: which can be thoroughly st ril zed and will mainta n its contents in a sterile and hermetically sealed condition; which includes cages or baskets of rigid construction for sup orting the flexible containers in stacked condition; wh ch can be reused a number of times; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, easy to use and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advan ages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and. ap ended claims in con unction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a flexible food container illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the container illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig re 1;

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view on the line tl of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a plan View of a reinforcing member for the bottom end of the container;

Figure 6 is a side elevational View of a container mounted in a supporting cage;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary view of the upner portion of the assembly shown in Figure 6, with the container shown in side elevation and the cage shown in cross-section; and

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a bail or clip for securing a closure cap on the container.

With continued reference to the drawings, the container, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3, comprises a tubular body it of flexible sheet material, preferably of uniform diameter and of a diameter and length to hold a desired quantity of food. This tubular body is formed. of an air impervious. heat and acid resisting, flexible sheet material, such as a synthetic resin plastic or a synthetic rubber, and is preferably of seamless construction.

A sleeve H of rigid material is received at one end in one end of the tubular body it and has an outside diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the tubular body. The tubular body is bonded to the sleeve l I with its end intermediate the length of the sleeve to provide an airtight seal between the tubular body and sleeve,

and the sleeve is provided intermediate its length and at the corresponding end of the tubular body with an outwardly projecting, annular 2 flange l2 having notches I 2| therein at substan tially equal angular intervals therearound.

At the side of the flange l2 remote from the tubular body iii the sleeve is reduced in thickness and externally screw-threaded, as indicated at l3.

' and a closure cap I4 is threaded onto the screwthreaded portion of the sleeve.

This cap comprises a cylindrical wall [5 internally screw-threaded to receive the externally screw-threaded portion of the sleeve H and an end wall 15 closing one end of the cylindrical wall structure l5. The end wall i6 is thicker than the cylindrical wall It? and is provided with a centrally located, concave depression I! to facilitate the application of locking bails to the cap and sleeve. The end wall projects marginally beyond the cylindrical wall 15 to provide an external annular flange 38 having notches I9 at substantially equal angular intervals therearound.

Immediately within the cylindrical wall l5 the end wall is provided with a circular groove and a washer or gasket 2i! of suitable resilient material is disposed in this groove and engages the outer end of the sleeve II when the cap is threaded onto the sleeve t provide an airtight seal between the cap and the sleeve.

A plurality of wire clips or bails 2|, as particularly illrstrated in Figure 8, are provided to lock the cap to the sleeve against accidental loosening by holding the cap notches I9 and the sleeve flange notches l2! in fixed aligned position. Each of these ba ls comprises an intermediate or bight portion 22 which extends diametrically across the outer side of the end wall I5 and a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallel legs 23 and 24 which extend through registering notches in the cap flange !8 and the sleeve flange l2 to hold the cap against rotation relative to the sleeve. The ends of the legs are bent, as indicated at 25, to engage under the sleeve flange l2 and secure the nails in operative engagement in the notches in the cap and sleeve flanges. A number of these bails may be engaged with the cap and sleeve of the container and crossed over each other at the center of the end wall of the cap, as is particularly illustrated in Figure 3. The depression I! in the end wall of the cap facilitates obtaining a finger grip on the intermediate portions of these bails when it is desired to remove the bails.

The bails 2! are only a safety lock, and it is to be understood that the container may be used without them without in any way exceeding the scope of the invention.

A rigid, fiat disc 26 is disposed in the tubular body is near the end of the tubular body remote from the sleeve l i and constitutes the bottom of the container. A portion of the tubular body at the end thereof receiving the disc 25 is turned under the disc, as indicated at 21 and is bonded to the outer side of the disc to provide an airtight seal between the tubular body and the outer side ofthe bottom disc.

A niereins body at of exibl heet m i in the form of a circular disc of a diameter,- slightly larger than the diameter of the bottom disc 26 and spaced apart tabs or tongues 29 projecting outwardly of the disc is secured to the bottom of the container so that the disc portion of the reinforcing body overlies the outer surface of the bottom disc 25 and the outer surface of the turned over portion 21 of the tubular body It and the tongues 29 are turned up and extend along the outer surface of the tubular body adjacent the bottom disc. This reinforcing member is bonded to the turned over portion '27 and to the outer sur ac of h u u a bod and re nforces the bottom construction of the, container,

When the container is filled with a soft food material, such as cheese, sausage Q1 butter, the

cap 54 may be removed from the sleeve 1! and.

a quantity of the food material less than the entire content of the container squeezed out of the container by compressing the flexible body Hi. After the desired quantity of iced material has been removed, the cap may be replaced, and,

if desired, the locking; bails replaced in operative association with the cap and sleeve, and the container returned to storage. If desired, the container can be compressed after each quantity of food has been removed to correspondingly shorten the ntainer so t t i ak up less storage space as its contents are used up, and by squeezing out air the food will be sub-- ject to lessoxidatien than in other containers, and no metal will come in contact with the food to au discol rati e ation s ne ation of poisonous substances.

When it is desired to stack the containers for transportation or storage, wire cages of rigid cons uct o ar o d d, one for ach c nt i as i u tr ted in'Fisu e d Each of these Wire cages or baskets comprises a plurality of longitudinal ribs Ell disposed in coterminous and parallel relationship to each other and centered around a common axis at substantially equal angular intervals apart and equal distances from the common axis. A plurality of wire r n s are disposed within the wire ribs 39 substantially perpendicular to the ribs. arrangement illustrated in Figure 6 there are tour longitudinal ribs 30, two end rings 31 and I.

as and $5.

,2 and th e in m a n s 3, 'ihe rings are preferably spaced apart substan-. tially equal distances longitudinally of the longitudinal ribs, and have a common inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the tubular body it of the container, so that the c n a er i e r e v se n t e case, b

v maller than the maximum diameter of the cap flan e l8, hat t s see f an e l rest upo th t end r n a u p nd tr e on ainer in 13 of the cap, so that the cages will stack one on top of the other and the cage and container assemblies can be convenientlystacked for storage or transportation. The rigidly constructed cages in which the rings and longitudinal ribs are securelyinterconnected, as by welding, pro- In the tect the flexible containers while in storage or transportation.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced ther n ha s claim is;

1. A c nt ne com s n a tu ar bod of eexib sheet m t ria e s e e o id mat ri secured in. the top end of said tubular body and having its lower portion bonded to said "body, said sleeve projecting out of said bod-y and havinterinediate its length and at the top end of said body an external annular flange provided with notches at substantially equal angular intervals therearound, sleeve having external screw threads above said flange, a closure cap including a screw threaded cylindrical wall and an end wall closing one end of said cylindrical Wall threaded onto said sleeve to close the latter, the end wall of said cap projecting outwardly beyond said cylindrical wall and providing an annular flange, said last named flange having notches therein at substantially equal angular intervals therearound, and wire bails extending across said cap end wall and having legs extending through aligned notches in the cap flange and the sleeve flange.

2. A container comprising a tubular body of flexible sheet material, a sleeve of rigid material secured in the top end of said tubular body and having its lower portion bonded to said body, said sleeve projecting out of said body and having intermediate its length and at the top end of said body an external annular flange provided with notches at substantially equal angular intervals therearound, said sleeve having external screw threads above said flange, a closure cap including a screw threaded cylindrical wall and an end wall closing one end of said Cylindrical wall threaded onto said sleeve to close the latter, the end wall of said cap projecting outwardly beyond said cylindrical wall and providing an annular flange, said last named flange having notches therein at substantially equal angular intervals thereround, wire bails extending across said cap end wall and having legs extending through aligned notches in the cap flange and the sleeve flange, and a rigid cl s re clo in t e bo tom en o s i HARRY C. SALLAC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,492,453 I-Iaines Apr.29, 1924 .T May 11, .1 2 ep us-ms D e- 0 1.9 

